We should all periodically review where we've been and where we are going. After all, it is often said that those who fail to plan, plan to fail. If a new job is in your plans, now is the time to lay the groundwork that will make it more likely. A good place to start is your on-line presence.

Two of the last four candidates I’ve placed have been women. However, it can be hard to find qualified female candidates for the senior-level searches I work on. I’ve spent a lot of time considering why this is.

Résumé trends come and go, and some are more extreme than others. As with fashion, the more outlandish the trend, the more quickly it disappears. And once a trend has come and gone, it quickly looks out-of-date. Remember when we were told that résumés should never exceed one page? That advice has been widely discredited, but for years people tried to showcase their careers on one 8.5 by 11 inch page. How about "functional résumés", with your accomplishments front and center and your job history condensed at the bottom? These were recommended as a way to pretty-up a less than pretty career track, and have since been abandoned because they came to be viewed with suspicion. If you are using these approaches today, you are hurting your chances of getting an interview.

People who have attained great heights in their chosen careers, whether in business or academia, in athletics or the arts, are always happy to name, and give credit, to their mentors. And those mentors, although they may be quick to minimize their contribution, agree that the relationship was one of mentor-mentee.

You are at work, focused on putting the finishing touches on a report that’s due tomorrow morning. Getting this report finished is the most important thing you have to do today. You’ve set your phone to do-not-disturb, and closed your office door. You are determined not to let anything disrupt your concentration … or at least that’s your plan.